Marcello 'Cello' Renda (born 4 June 1985 in Peterborough

Peterborough

Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

) is a professional boxer

Boxing

Boxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...

, using the nickname "Dangerous". He is a middleweight

Middleweight

Middleweight is a division, or weight class, in boxing. Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have begun in the 1840s. In the bare-knuckle era, the first middleweight championship fight was between Tom Chandler and Dooney Harris in 1897...

, and reached the final of the 4th Prizefighter tournament.

Biography

Renda was born in Peterborough; he has four brothers and one sister and is trained by Ian Pauly. His favourite boxer is Sugar Ray Leonard

Sugar Ray Leonard

Sugar Ray Leonard is an American retired professional boxer and occasional actor. He was named Ray Charles Leonard, after his mother's favorite singer, Ray Charles...

 and his favourite football team is A.C. Milan

A.C. Milan

Associazione Calcio Milan, commonly referred to as A.C. Milan or simply Milan , is a professional Italian football club based in Milan, Lombardy, that plays in the Serie A. Milan was founded in 1899 by English lace-maker Herbert Kilpin and businessman Alfred Edwards among others...

.

Professional career

Renda made his professional boxing debut on 30 September 2004, where he defeated the previously unbeaten Mark Ellwood in a 2nd round technical knockout. Ellwood outweighed Renda by almost a stone in weight.

Two months later, Renda was himself knocked out by the debuting Joey Vegas in the 3rd round of his 2nd fight. In September 2007, Renda defeated Steve Ede to win the British Masters Middleweight title. Renda vacated the title in January 2008 in order to fight for the English title.

English Title

On 8 March 2008, Renda challenged the undefeated Paul Smith, who was a contestant in The Contender 3

The Contender 3

The Contender 3 is a reality television show based on the sport of boxing, but with an element of the competitor's lives and relationships with each other within the show's living quarters, based in Pasadena, California. The first episode aired September 4 on ESPN, with a live finale on November 6...

, for the vacant English middleweight title. Renda was stopped in the 6th round of the 10 round contest.

Prizefighter 4: The Middleweights

On 22 November 2008, Renda was given the opportunity to fight for the £25,000 winners' prize in the 4th Prizefighter tournament. He defeated Danny Thornton by 2nd round knockout and Max Maxwell on points on his way to the final. In the final Renda faced tournament favourite Martin Murray

Martin Murray (boxer)

Martin Murray is a British professional boxer fighting in the middleweight and super middleweight divisions. He was the winner of the fourth Prizefighter tournament and is the reigning Commonwealth champion at middleweight...

who defeated him via a close points decision.